1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates a pet grooming restraint apparatus and method and more particularly to a grooming restraint apparatus that includes an overhead frame member to which the pet is secured by a leash.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Various type of grooming stations are well know that generally employ a height adjustable table to which is attached some device or another for restraining the pet, such as a dog, to prevent it from leaving the table. In some grooming stations, leg restraints are employed while in others the pet is secured to the table by neck leashes and sometimes body leashes that pass beneath the body of the pet. In some units, the leashes are attached to a cantilever mounted L-shaped grooming arm assembly. The grooming arm has a crossing section to which the leash is attached that is supported in overlying relationship with respect to the table by means of a vertical section with one end releasably clamped to the edge of the table.
Other units employ two vertical sections clamped to opposite ends of the table that support an overhead grooming bar passing over the longitudinal center of the table between them to which the leashes are attached. This is a stronger restraint than the cantilever mounted L-shaped grooming arm assembly and is generally used with larger dogs.
It is critical that once the pet has been secured by a leash to the grooming arm or grooming bar it must not be allowed to leave the underlying support of the grooming table. In such event the animal may be choked by a neck leash, injured internally by a body leash or may cause other injuries by tipping over the table. A basic problem with all known grooming restraint system discovered by the inventors is that none of the grooming arms or grooming bars are constructed with sufficient structural integrity to ensure that the grooming arm assembly cannot be bent, twisted or otherwise distorted or partial or wholly disconnected from the table by the force of a large animal, such as a large dog. Without such distortion or disconnection the leash restraint may be adjusted to prevent the pet from moving off the table. In such case, a groomer, or groom, may feel confident that all is well and even leave the table, only to return to find the poor pet strangling or otherwise in distress or worse. Even when the groomer is present during an unexpected lunge by the pet, the pet may be too large for the groomer to prevent the pet from leaving the table despite the shortness of the leash because of the inadequate structural rigidity and insecure mounting of the grooming bar.
In general, these conditions have prevailed, because grooming efficiency requires good access to the pet from all directions. Even with the known systems in which the vertical support members are mounted to the ends of the table at the lateral center, the support members block or otherwise interfere with direct frontal and rearward access. Accordingly, some groomers prefer the even weaker cantilever mounted grooming arm even for larger dogs to minimize access blockage despite the increase danger to the pet. It has even been known employ rotating tables or rotating grooming arms to minimize the access blockage problem, but these solutions still do not address the problem of inadequate strength and weak mounting.
Thus, the inventors have recognized a need to provide a pet restraint apparatus that overcomes the problems of poor structural integrity, inadequate mounting while still providing good access especially from the rearward and frontal ends of the table.